Category Archives: Favourite recipes

My most flavourful recipes

Dal Makhani (or as close as I am able to get to it …..)

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First posted almost two years ago, this is so delicious it deserves a remake (and perhaps some better photos, and I WILL give that a try, but my pathetic food photography skills have not progressed in the meantime :-)).

  • 300 grams whole black lentils (aka urad dal)
  • 100 grams kidney beans
  • 3 tablespoons ghee, alternatively olive oil or coconut oil
  • 2 large red onions, chopped (most recipes probably call for yellow onions but I find those too sweet, so I ever only have red onions available)
  • 2 green chilies, chopped
  • 15 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
  • 1 large knob ginger, grated
  • 2 tins tomatoes, pureed with a tablespoon tomato concentrate
  • 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 5 cloves
  • 5 green cardamom, slightly crushed
  • 3 black cardamom, slightly crushed
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 5 Indian bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds, ground
  • 1 teaspoon, or to taste, red chili powder or cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg or ground nutmeg powder
  • Vegetable stock or water as required
  • 4 tablespoons whipping cream (this is optional, if you ask me – I find cream in savoury dishes quite unappetising and I would normally have no use for leftovers, so I leave it out. If I have ghee or goat yoghurt available, I may add a tablespoon or two.
  • Salt, as required
  • Chopped cilantro for garnish
  • Julienned ginger for garnish (optional)
  • Cream for garnish (again – optional – if anything, I use some of the goat yoghurt I often have available)

Preparation

  • Soak the beans for at least eight hours. Drain and discard the soaking water.
  • Cook the beans for one hour. Drain, preserving the cooking water.
  • Fry the whole spices in the ghee for a minute till they sputter and become fragrant, then add the onions, sautéing on medium heat till they soften and become light golden.
  • Add the ginger-garlic paste and sautée, stirring, then add the chopped green chili.
  • Add the pureed tomato and mix well.
  • Add the rest of the spices, mix and sautée.
  • Add the cooked beans, mix and add stock or water as required.
  • Simmer on low heat for at least half an hour, adding water if required.
  • If you wish, mash some of the beans in some of their cooking water in order to achieve a creamier texture.

Glögg

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First published here 1 December 2012.

For 8-10 persons:

  • 2 bottles of redwine
  • 1 bottle of port
  • ¼ bottle brandy or rum
  • 250 g dried currants (normally raisins but I prefer (Danish): korender, (German): Korinthen (MUST be organic, otherwise they are waxed and the wax melts when heated and it is disgusting)
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 2 cinnamon sticks (Sri Lanka or Ceylon – NOT Kassia)
  • 10 cloves
  • 8 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
  • If you like your glögg extra spicy, add 10 black peppercorns
  • If you like a slight licorice note, add 4 star anise as well
  • 1 knob of fresh ginger,  sliced
  • The peel of 1 lemon
  • The peel of two oranges
  • 150 g chopped almonds
  • Sugar to taste, but remember that the port and the raisins/currants are sweet

Please note that at least all fruit must be organic. Otherwise it is treated with some kind of wax (among many other toxins) which really does not work when heated, or at all.

Mix some of the port with vanilla, peels and spices, bring to just under boiling point, remove from heat and leave to infuse for at least 24 hours. Will keep longer in a well-sealed container in the fridge. For convenience, place the peels and spices (which need to be discarded before serving) in a gauze bag or a tea filter bag, or just pour it through a fine-meshed sieve before heating and serving.

Mix the brandy/rum with the raisins/currants and leave for at least 24 hours.

To serve:

Heat all ingredients gently in a heavy-bottomed pot, making sure it does not boil. Serve piping hot in mugs or glasses, with a spoon for the raisins and almonds.

 

Lentil/quinoa pancakes with apple/onion chutney

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NOTE: Lentils and quinoa has to soak in water for 12 hours

Vegan if you use oil instead of ghee, but I find that the slightly nutty flavour of ghee goes particularly well here. Make your own, nothing is easier, there are hundreds of tutorials on youtube, and it tastes better and is much cheaper than the store-bought ghee.

The pancakes:

125 g quinoa

125 g red split lentils

125 g chickpea (aka gram or besan) flour

1 tsp baking powder

Salt and a healthy dose of freshly ground black pepper

Half tsp turmeric

2 tsp kalonji (aka onion seeds)

2 tsp brown mustard seeds

I also threw in a heaped tsp fermented black garlic, but that’s just me.

4 Tblsp oil or ghee

Soak lentils and quinoa in water overnight. Drain in a sieve, rinse with cold running water, and let drain.

Blend with 150 ml water (obviously, the thinner you want your pancakes – the thinner the dough) and all other ingredients except oil/ghee.

Use one to two tblsp dough to bake small, thick pancakes with the oil.

The Chutney:

1 tblsp oil or ghree

20 g fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 red onion, thinly wedged

1 small red chili, finely chopped, or powder to taste (I used a half tsp chili flakes here)

6 medjoul dates, chopped

3 apples, not too sweet, cored and cut in wedges

100 ml pure apple juice (I actually just used water since I never have any kind of fruit juice in the house)

2-3 tblsp lemon juice

3 tblsp sugar (is what the recipe says but I obviously try to avoid added sugar, and the apples I had were quite sweet, so I threw in a couple of extra dates instead),

2 bayleaves

1 cinnamon (NOT cassia) stick, or a tsp ground

4 cloves or a pinch ground

Sautee ginger and onion in the oil/ghee. Add all other ingredients and simmer, stirring regularly, for five minutes or until the apples are mushy.

Stuffed butternut squash

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IN PROGRESS (this looks like a very bland and basic recipe and I will definitely add some herbs and/or spices)

Recipe
Take 1 butternut squash, wash and dry, remove the stem and base and cut in half. Season with olive oil and sea salt and roast, face down, for 50 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.
Meanwhile prepare your filling. Prepare 2 portions of cous cous as per packet instructions and add to a bowl. Cut the head off half a broccoli and steam fry until cooked but not mushy, and add to the cous cous. Chop 1 apple and add to the bowl, alongside 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds and 1 tbsp sunflower seeds.
When the squash is cooked and soft enough that a teaspoon can scrape away the flesh, scoop out 1/3 of the insides and add the the couscous mix.
Add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp mixed herbs and 1 tsp olive oil to the cous cous and mix well. Stuff the butternut squash with the couscous mix and top with a tahini whip (blend tahini, lemon juice and water)

Butternut squash (or pumpkin) and chickpea curry

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IN PROGRESS

Ingredients

  • 1 onion, chopped 
  • 1 garlic, peeled
  • thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and chopped 
  • 1 red chilli, diced
  • 1tsp groundnut oil
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 1tsp ground coriander
  • 1tsp ground cumin
  • 1tsp garam masala
  • 400g butternut squash, peeled and diced 
  • 400 chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 400ml half-fat coconut milk or alpro coconut milk alternative
  • 200ml vegetable stock
  • 150 g baby spinach
  • 1 lime, plus wedges to serve

Method

  • STEP 1Put the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli into a small food processor and blend to a paste.
  • STEP 2Heat 1 tsp oil in a large pan and fry the paste for a few minutes with a pinch of salt, then add the spices, and fry for another minute before adding the squash and chickpeas.
  • STEP 3Mix with the spices, then add the coconut milk and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the squash softens and the sauce thickens.
  • STEP 4Stir in the spinach until wilted, and squeeze in the lime juice to serve.

Beetroot, quinoa and split lentil patties

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  • 200 g cooked split lentils
  • 200 g grated or finely chopped beetroot
  • Small knob ginger
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika powder (I have found something in Alnatura called Rauchige Drecksau – that will have to do the job)
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 200 g cooked quinoa
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped coriander
  • 50 g ground pumpkin seeds
  • 140 g gram flour (a.ka. besan, chickpea flour)

 

  • In a food processor, blitz lentils, beets, spices and seasoning for a minute or two.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine this with the cooked quinoa, chopped red onion, chopped coriander, garlic, ground pumpkin seeds, and gram flour. Mix well till it begins to hold together. Adjust seasonings.
  • Refrigerate for one to two hours or so. This will make it easier to form the patties.
  • Either fry in avocado oil on a pan for three to four minutes until golden on each side, or
  • Brush each side lightly with avocado oil and bake in a single layer in the oven at 180 C for a total of 20 minutes, turning them over once while baking.

PS: In the photo is some cashew yoghurt stirred with the ground pumpkin seeds which I forgot to mix into the pattie mixture :-). That worked, and it ended up as an even more complete meal.

Also, the patties can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days as a convenient quick meal with a salad, or frozen.

White chocolate mousse with a rhubarb sauce

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I see that I made this the first time in September 2012, and I think I have made it once or twice since then.

Now, having found rhubarb for the first time this year, I will give it a renaissance for tomorrow’s April film-afternoon-followed-by-dinner. Main course will be roast leg of lamb with gorgonzola.

I like to either replace some of the white chocolate with white chocolate with chilli, or to add a chilli, deseeded and halved lengthways, to the syrup for a while while it heats up.

100 g castor sugar

4 tbsp cold water

1 egg

2 egg yolks

200 g white chocolate

275 ml whipping cream

3 gelatine leaves

 

Soak the gelatine in water.

Melt the chocolate in a ‘bain marie’ till about 30 C.

Boil the water and sugar till 121 C.

Drain the gelatine of the water and dissolve it in the syrup (be careful of the sputter).

Whip the egg and yolks to a froth and pour the syrup into it slowly under constant whipping and keep whipping till it reaches room temperature.

Whip the cream to a light foam.

Turn the chocolate into the eggs and then gently turn in the whipped cream.

I would imagine that a cherry sauce would suit this mousse, but I find that in the rhubarb season, this ‘sauce’ goes particularly well with it:

Dice 100 g rhubarb very finely (cubes of just a couple of mm). Slice 400 g rhubarb, mix with 250 g sugar and ½ vanilla pod and bring it slowly to a boil. Let simmer 10-15 minutes and pass through a finely meshed colander.

Reheat the juice and simmer till it becomes syrupy.  Pour it over the rhubarb dice while hot and let it cool off, then refrigerate till ready to serve.

Sichuan soy and chilli roasted aubergines

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  • 2 aubergines
  • ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 15g fresh ginger, roughly chopped
  • 2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped, alternatively chili powder or flakes or whatever you have available
  • 2 tblsp tomato purée (I use the one that comes in a tube)
  • 2 tblsp clear honey
  • 1 tblsp avocado oil
  • 2 tblsp light soy sauce
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • Toasted sesame seeds, shredded lemon peel, chopped coriander (all optional) for garnish

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Whizz the peppercorns, garlic, ginger and chilli in a small food processor until finely chopped.

Add the tomato purée, honey, soy sauce, avocado oil, salt and 2 tblsp cold water and whizz to a loose paste.

Halve the aubergines lengthways, then deeply score in a criss-cross pattern, taking care not to cut through the skin.

Spread the paste on them, making sure it gets into the crevices. I used a baking brush for this. I did not manage to get all the paste in/onto the aubergines the first time around, so I added the rest after removing the foil and baking the second time around.

Place in an oven-proof dish, cover with foil and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the aubergines.

Remove the foil, spoon over any leftover paste, and roast uncovered for a further 20 to 30 minutes, until very tender and browned.

Drizzle with the sesame oil, let rest for 5 minutes, then garnish.  

PS, on this occasion, dessert was blueberries in home-made cashew-nut yoghurt, drizzled with a bit of honey :-).

Bengali aubergine in a yoghurt sauce

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(Can be vegan with vegan yoghurt)

I am happy to report that this tastes a lot better than it looks. I think the optics depend a bit on the type of yoghurt used (I used home-made cashew nut yoghurt), but of course also on the the cook’s food presentation skills, of which I have none.

  • 2 medium aubergine (begun) around 500g
  • 1 half tsp salt
  • 1 half tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • oil
  • 1 tblsp mustard oil
  • 1 tsp kalonji
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 half tsp chili powder
  • 1 tblsp freshly grated ginger
  • 2,50 dl yoghurt (I used my own homemade cashew nut yoghurt)
  • 1 half tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 half tsp red chili powder
  • salt to taste
  • Optional: garnish with chopped coriander leaves
  • ½ tsp garam masala

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
  • Cut the aubergines lengthwise, in quarters
  • Mix the oil, salt, chili powder and turmeric together
  • Place the aubergines in a parchment lined baking tray and spread the oil/spice mixture on the cut surfaces
  • Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven
  • Meanwhile, in a pan, heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Reduce the flame and add the kalonji, bay leaf, chili powder, and ginger, and roast, stirring.
  • Lower the flame, add the yoghurt, turmeric, coriander powder, and salt. Stir through immediately and continuously
  • When the oil separates, add 1 dl hot water and the roasted aubergines, making sure that the yoghurt/spice mixture is distributed on the cut surfaces of the aubergines. Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes to let the aubergines start to absorb some of the flavours from the sauce
  • Turn off the heat and spinkle the garam masala and, if using, the chopped coriander over the dish before serving.

My favourite salad dressing right now, and a footnote about “the oils”

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I eat salad at least once a day now, and this type of dressing has been my favourite for a while:

Blend about a dl of tahini, four garlic cloves, a bit of fresh ginger, chili in some form or other, one tblsp roasted sesame oil, two tblsp olive oil*), 1 tsp black treacle**), grated peel and juice of two lemons, and one tesp roated cumin seeds finely ground. Add cold water a little at a time till the desired consistency, usually about the same amount as the amount of tahini.

As long as you don’t eat it by the spoonful by itself before that, it will last four to five days in the fridge. I believe it can also be frozen, although I would probably prefer to blitz in the garlic upon defrosting. Any which way, having a batch on hand cuts down on preparation time. I must admit – preparing, and eating, a big salad for breakfast does take a lot longer than slapping some cheese on a slice of bread and eating it.

*) Yes, I know, the WFPB police will come after me, but I refuse to live without olive oil & co. at least for now. In recent months, I have been learning so much about nutrition and made quite a few changes to my regular diet (and liking it and feeling great – don’t get me wrong) that I am thinking (sobbing) – PLEASE don’t take my beloved olive oil away from me. I have yet to be convinced that it is the great evil that whole-foods people say it is, but who knows ….. that day might still come where this last frontier of my complete surrender to Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen Doctrine will fall.

**) Most similar recipes call for maple syrup or honey, but black treacle from Alnatura is my always-available, staple sweetener (of which I don’t use a lot anyway) and has been since I was a little bit iron deficient not so long ago and found out that one tblsp of it will have your iron levels replenished in no time.